Spring clean your garage and attic on the cheap!

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – With the weather warming up, it’s a great time to clean up.

The garage and attic are probably the biggest tasks to tackle in your home. We are stretching your dollar with easy and inexpensive ways to clean up without cleaning out your wallet!

Probably the worst cluttered space in a home is the garage. The first step is to move your stuff out!

“So take everything out. Then use Clorox, bleach, 409, all those cleaners that are going to be able to scrub your walls. Don’t forget to scrub your floors, so when you put everything back in place, everything is truly clean,” said Todd Byczek, manager of Shadeland Lowe’s.

To make quick work of your garage mess, buy industrial-sized mops and equipment. Both are relatively cheap and make quick work of larger areas. From there, take the items you had sitting on the floor and put them on the walls, in storage cabinets, or on shelving units if possible. Most big box stores have a big variety of options.

“The shelving units are very easy to put together. Most of the time, no tools are required. They have click and lock technology where all you have to do is just snap it together,” said Alvin Hester, department supervisor at Lowe’s.

You can also make quick work of organizing your small tools and garage items using pegboards. They now come in metal for durability. Depending on the amount you need, it will generally cost less than $100. Most stores also have hook systems for hanging almost anything you have in your garage–of moderate size–on your walls. In the case of storage cabinets, the finish is often fingerprint- and grease-resistant, unlike a typical interior appliance. Manufacturers have made the storage cabinets with garage grit in mind.

But even the guys who sell the stuff say you shouldn’t go crazy with storage.

“You don’t need to have the most high-end, great-looking stuff, unless that’s what you really want or need. We have a ton of different things that are going to meet every single person’s budget. You can buy it boxed or you can have it assembled for a small fee,” said Byczek.

Probably the second most cluttered place in your home is the attic. If yours is a place for storage, make sure you have a good and safe way to get up there! Ladders that are mounted in the attic are made for getting up and down and are much safer than a step ladder. They average about $150. And keep in mind, they are not all the same.

“In all the ones we sell, they have adjustable feet, so they can reach 7 to 10 feet, but weight capacities vary. We have an aluminum ladder that will feel a little more sturdy and it’s going to hold up to 375 pounds. That’s 125 pounds more than the wood one,” said Byczek.

That doesn’t mean to put really heavy stuff in your attic because most attics aren’t made for that. Heavy items can cause the ceiling to crack or break. If you are anxious to clean and get rid of stuff, don’t forget other people may want what you are throwing away.

You can donate unwanted items or sell stuff online to help pay for your cleanup and storage upgrades. Some of the top selling and buying sites include Facebook, Craigslist, eBay, Letgo, OfferUp and Nextdoor.